Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s Resident Identity Card project finds no takers

NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s showpiece project, Resident Identity Card (RIC) to all residents over 18 years, seems to be headed for cold storage as the Cabinet has not cleared it so far and now a parliamentary standing committee has also questioned its utility.

Singh had announced last year that RICs would be issued to nearly 82 crore adult Indian citizens under the National Population Register scheme. In the budget for 2015-16, the allocation under ‘Census Survey and Statistics activities’ was, however, sharply cut to Rs 566.48 cr from Rs 1,000.56 crore. \

The ministry has conceded before a House panel that the decrease is "mainly due to non-finalisation" of the NPR component of the issue of RIC. "According to the home ministry, this project could not be cleared by the Government," the panel report, tabled in the House on April 23, noted. RIC cards were issued in the coastal areas.